


Fall! (I Will Not Bow!)

by The_Indian_Ghost



Series: Music To My Ears [1]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), GOT7, Monsta X (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst for days, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Benjamin, Consider this a Traditional Kingdom AU but with limited modern technology, Crown Prince and Princess, DON'T KILL MEEEE, F/F, F/M, Guns, He is also in the background, He's still there tho just in the background, I Will Not Bow, I'm Sorry, IT'S SUPER DEPRESSING I'M SO SORRY, Kingdoms, Kings & Queens, Knives, Look at the bright side tho, M/M, Multi, My First AO3 Post, Oneshot, Overthrowing the Monarchy, PEOPLE GET TORTURED, Please Don't Kill Me, READ THAT LAST TAG, Rebellion, Royal guards - Freeform, Royalty, Swords, THERE IS A VERY GRAPHIC AND PUBLIC EXECUTION IN THIS BEWARE, The ones not mentioned don't die, WARNING PEOPLE DIE IN THIS, Wonho is also not mentioned I'm sorry, Youngjae is not mentioned I'm sorry, i.e. the modern world before smartphones and personal computers but with shortwave radios and guns, kingdom au, min yoongi centric, please, read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 17:51:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20821382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Indian_Ghost/pseuds/The_Indian_Ghost
Summary: "Fall!"Min Yoongi snarled at the Royals seated in their thrones as the guards seized his arms and dragged him backwards out of the throne room. The crowd below surrounding the building magically seemed to know the outcome of the meeting, for they too shouted this single word as it was meant to be shouted:As a declaration of war.A war that Yoongi was going to win at all cost.





	Fall! (I Will Not Bow!)

**Author's Note:**

> Song name: I Will Not Bow   
Artist: Breaking Benjamin  
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qrRzNidzIc
> 
> Please read these tags before continuing as this work contains some heavy and potentially depressing topics. Stay safe kids! I also recommend you listen to the song while reading, it just enhances the experience so you get your money's worth from it.
> 
> This work can also be found on my Wattpad   
Link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/200266133-music-to-my-ears
> 
> Should you have any song requests, please comment below.   
This is my first time posting on AO3 and I'm super excited. I hope you enjoy reading.   
Feel free to yell at me in the comments below, but please be gentle, for I too broke my heart when writing this
> 
> Once again I AM SO SORRY

_"Fall!"_

Min Yoongi snarled at the Royals seated in their thrones as the guards seized his arms and dragged him backwards out of the throne room. The crowd below surrounding the building magically seemed to know the outcome of the meeting, for they too shouted this single word as it was meant to be shouted: As a declaration of war. 

*****

_"Now the dark begins to rise."_

Yoongi thought to himself, many months later as he watched the uprisings in the second biggest city in the kingdom. Though he stood far from the city, it was easy to see- with his advanced vision- the masses of people dressed in black as they set the city on fire. 

*****

_"Save your breath, it's far from over."_

He snarled at Kim Seokjin, the man who had once been the secretary for the very same people Yoongi- and the rest of the Rebellion- were trying to destroy. Seokjin turned traitor to the ones he had previously served and became a spy for them. He was the first of their Rebellion to protest, begging Yoongi and the others to stop the unnecessary violence and destruction and find another way to do things. Yoongi didn't see his point. 

*****

_"Leave the lost and dead behind." _

Yoongi clutched at the lifeless body of Jeon Jungkook, the youngest of the Generals in the Rebellion. He was far too young and had eyes that sparkled with so much life, that Yoongi felt his death as if were his own. He glared at Kim Namjoon, who was only repeating the orders that he- and Jungkook, and Im Jaebum, and Park Jinyoung, and Jackson Wang, and Kim Taehyung, and Chae Hyungwon, and Yoo Kihyun, and Lee Minhyuk, and Im Changkyun, and Mark Tuan, and Yoongi himself; all the Generals really- had made and enforced over the 9 months of the beginnings of their civil war.

His heart hardened even further as he stepped back from the lifeless body of his young friend and comrade, and obeyed Namjoon's orders. He gestured for his own battalion to continue forward to the secluded castle that they were planning to raid before the ambush occurred. The ambush that Jungkook and his battalion had saved them from. The ambush that had cost them his life.

*****

_"Now's your chance to run for cover!" _

He shouted to an injured Taehyung as he blocked the oncoming arrows with his shield. He spied a stray Knife-Thrower creeping up from his side, directly behind Taehyung. He lunged forward and blocked the knife with his own body before it could get anywhere near Taehyung. His chainmail just barely stopped the knife from embedding itself in his body. Taehyung made it to the medics in their nearest bunker on time. 

*****

_"I don't want to change the world," _

He declared to the small group of advisors he'd been targeting. Despite being sore and injured, he was perfectly relaxed, down to his grip on the silver an black gun he was pointing to the advisor's head. 

_"I just wanna leave it colder." _

He smiled a sickeningly sinister smile, before allowing his bullets to become well acquainted with their heads. He enjoyed humouring them and answering their questions, knowing that nothing would change no matter what anyone said. 

_"Light the fuse and burn it up." _

Were the orders he'd received before the start of this mission. They were his orders to his men, too. A safe distance away from the castle, he sat- securely in his saddle, his horse and him on top of the highest hill in the area- and looked at the blaze. He watched as the smaller buildings surrounding the main castle all lit up too. His men flowed out of the gate and galloped away to their camp as the gardens began to catch fire too. 

He silently watched the warm orange blaze lighting up the dark night like the beacon it was; a declaration to the Rebels and Royals alike: that the Rebellion had no intention of backing away, that they had no intention of stopping, that they could not be pacified by empty promises anymore. It was a beacon giving hope to the masses who dared not join the Rebellion for fear of their lives just as it was a warning to the royalty, silently saying: 

"We're coming for you whether you like it or not."

*****

_"Take the path that leads to nowhere?" _

Namjoon glanced at Yoongi, a silent question in his eyes. Yoongi shook his head. His instinct told him otherwise; that it was not safe for their entire battalion to head there. Instead, he decided to go alone, instructing his men to split up between Namjoon and Taehyung's battalion until he returned. Scouting was not his strong point, but fighting was; Yoongi sensed a fight ahead, so he went alone. His instincts were always right.

_"All is lost again..." _

He heard broadcasted on his radio as he saw Taehyung being marched into the camp that he'd been locked in after being ambushed. Hyungwon followed shortly afterwards. The two of them had the biggest and most crucial battalions of spies, scouts and strategists (next to Namjoon and Jaebum of course) and so for them to be captured was bad news. Yoongi hoped they had been alone when they were captured. 

Yoongi also hoped Namjoon had the sense to change the channel they broadcasted on again and that he would stop trying to contact Yoongi and the others to stop their information getting in the wrong hands. He did. Yoongi later found that his radio was the only one still working- Hyungwon and Taehyung had used their last bullets to destroy theirs before being captured- and the broadcasts stopped. Two days later, their captors opened the radio to reverse-engineer it, only to find the insides melted into a black, smoking mess of plastic. Namjoon had remotely destroyed the insides by overloading the receiving decoder until it malfunctioned and overheated, melting the rest of it. 

Yoongi smiled smugly in the face of the enraged captors. He was the first to be interrogated. 

_"But I'm not giving in."_

He whispered to Taehyung and Hyungwon as they tried to clean his bloody, battered body with the limited resources they had- half a water bottle and some of Taehyung's ripped bedding and the straw Taehyung pulled from his mattress. 

_"I will not bow!" _

Yoongi yelled at the royal who had come to watch his interrogation.

_"I will not break!" _

Yoongi hissed through the pain of the torture. Currently, he was being fed sleeping pills but being doused with icy water to keep him awake. None of them had thought of the fact that the ice water was cold enough to numb and soothe the various bruises, cuts, sprains and even the few broken bones they'd given him. He was not going to point it out to them either. 

When they threatened to keep him in this state of sleep deprivation, he didn't care, since they only had one interrogation room and as long as he was in here, Hyungwon and Taehyung were safe. He was stronger than them, he could take anything they threw at him- even the boiling water.

_"I will shut the world away" _

He thought, delirious with fever from his infection as he began to hallucinate Jungkook's shimmering form repeatedly telling him to give up all the secret information for the good of the world. Hey even may have said it aloud. He was not sure when Jungkook's voice became so gruff and gravelly, neither was he sure when it morphed into a soft, gentle, lilting voice. Often, it switched between the two. He sometimes heard Taehyung's screams, sometimes they were Hyungwon's. Soon, he lost the ability to distinguish between them. 

_"I will not fall!" _

The royal spat at him, triumphant grin marring his face. Hyungwon's limp body was dragged out of the interrogation room. Taehyung was almost as weak as Yoongi and toppled to the floor alongside Hyungwon when his broken, bloody body was thrown into the cell. Taehyung didn't even have the strength to push Hyungwon's body off him so he could breathe properly.

_"I will not fade" _

Yoongi thought to himself as the commotion and noise finally cleared from their section of the building. He heard that same soft, gentle, lilting voice whisper to him that everything was going to be alright as long as he held on until the medics got here. Had he been more coherent, he would've recognised one of Kihyun's spies, Park Jimin, who had been coordinating their rescue from the very hour that Yoongi had been captured.

*****

_"I will take your breath away" _

Jimin whispered in Yoongi's ear. His eyes roamed the lithe, curvy figure with muscles in all the right places. Jimin's fingers traced his scars softly, gently, apologetically. They lost themselves in each other that night, Jimin apologising with his whole body, and Yoongi accepting the apology. By morning, Yoongi had forgiven Jimin. After all, Jimin's cover would have been blown if he hadn't done as he was ordered. Yoongi understood. 

*****

_"Fall!" _

The battle cry of the people rippled through the crowd. It echoed, the sound bouncing off the buildings that amplified it. Yoongi smiled. 

_"Watch the end through dying eyes." _

Yoongi growled as he gripped the King's Head Advisor by his collar and shoved his face in the window so he could see the crowd below, demanding his death. 

_"Now the dark is taking over." _

The last remaining advisors and royals trembled in their safehouse as the national radios, news stations and newspapers broadcasted the same message over and over again, much to the relief of the people, who were now freely able to don their blackest clothes in support of the Rebellion.

*****

_"Show me where forever dies." _

"Right here. Forever dies right here," Yoongi whispered to Jimin's still form as he held his lifeless lover's body in his arms. Agony and anger burned his veins. He saw red. That was the first time Namjoon had ever seen so much destruction being caused by a single person. The Kingdom's second-largest castle- the one which all of the nobility had fled into- burned for three days straight. 

As the fire came to an end, Yoongi was found lying spread-eagle on top of the mountain of ash. His eyes were more lifeless than Namjoon- or anyone else- had ever seen. Jimin, Hyungwon and Jungkook's rings adorned his left hand. Namjoon refused to send him on any more missions until the customary 3 week mourning period was over. Yoongi disappeared for those 3 weeks, and although Namjoon didn't know his exact location, Yoongi made it known through the burning beacons. At the end of the 3 weeks, every single one of the small castles dotted in the countryside- whether they belonged to the royals or nobility- were reduced to piles of ashes. 

Every single person in the kingdom had to wear face masks outside when the wind began to blow. 

*****

_"Take the fall and run to Heaven!" _

Lee Minhyuk was the next casualty. His battalion were the ones responsible for toppling the corrupt church. He was the one who- had Yoongi been more religious, he might've believed- would end up burning in Hell for his sins. His sins being: dragging the highest priest in their land to the highest part of the tallest church in their land, and uttering these words before pushing the priest off. But the priest had turned and gripped him as hard as he could before he pulled a hidden knife out of his inner robe pocket and stabbed Minhyuk in the neck. They fell together, like angels falling from grace- both of them heading straight to Hell. 

No one had ever heard Son Hyunwoo- Hyungwon's replacement as General to his battalion- scream louder.

Minhyuk's ring went to Hyunwoo, but when an identical ring appeared on Yoongi's hand as well, no one chose to comment on it. Hyunwoo's eyes became as hard as Yoongi's was after Jungkook's death. 

*****

_"All is lost again" _

This time, it was Namjoon who had been captured by a secret elite group of guards the royalty had kept hidden deep within the forest, trained specifically for this exact scenario. Yoongi was captured alongside him. Mark Tuan had just barely escaped. Taehyung would have too, if it weren't for the starved bloodhound they'd unleashed on him. He lost a leg that day. 

_"But I'm not giving in!" _

This time, Yoongi fared better with the interrogation. Taehyung too. Namjoon, however, did not. He could barely stand after their first "session" with him. 

_"I will not bow!" _

Yoongi once again spat in the face of the royal- in this case, the sneering young crown prince- who promptly ordered all of them to be tortured again. 

_"I will not break" _

Namjoon whispered, more to himself than anyone else. He held his breath and cried out as the salt-laced whip came down on his bared back again. 

_"I will shut the world away" _

Taehyung whispered to the guard who kept on giving him inaccurate "reports" on how Namjoon and Yoongi had cracked and had spilt everything and how the Rebellion was falling apart. Deep down, he knew that was not the case, but fear still managed to worm its way into his heart and mind. 

_"I will not fall!" _

The crown prince screamed in frustration at the 3 tight-lipped Generals who refused to say anything, even when repeatedly being tortured. 

_"I will not fade" _

Taehyung could feel himself becoming weaker and weaker. He felt the moment his wounds began to get infected. He knew that, unlike Yoongi the last time, this time he would not survive. Their captors were people professionally trained in the art of torture, and Taehyung knew that they knew exactly what they were doing. He promised himself not to fade away, Yoongi and Namjoon and Mark needed him. His battalion needed him. 

But especially Yoongi, who had lost far too many people who were close to him. Yoongi wouldn't be able to take it if he lost another person close to him. He'd go crazy and destroy everything without even needing to use his powers. And then Taehyung began to wonder whether the Rebellion would be able to take another loss- another General in particular- and still be strong. 

The guard's words ate him alive without him even realising it until it was too late, and he had already tasted the easy, painless taste of despair.

_"I will take your breath away!" _

These were the last words Taehyung heard. Yoongi heard them too, and so did Namjoon. The 2 of them moved as one to frantically grasp Taehyung's leg to stop the guards from taking him. They both knew that realistically, there was nothing they could do to stop him or keep him safe, after all, they were being held captive. It didn't stop them from trying. But they were weak and outnumbered by the guards, and Taehyung himself begged them to let them go before the guards took it out on them too. They did anyway, but it was just like Taehyung to worry about them until the end. There were no screams from the interrogation room this time, just dead silence, and a gaping hole in Yoongi and Namjoon's chests. 

Seokjin was the one who infiltrated the base and organised their breakout this time. 

This time, Yoongi's rage burned white-hot as he exploded- just as Taehyung had predicted. Seokjin and Namjoon bolted to the safety of Mark Tuan's battalion, who were camped nearby awaiting their arrival. 

Another beacon was lit that night, courtesy of Yoongi of course, and Taehyung's bloodstained ring joined the 4 others on his hand. 

This time, however, the beacon was a declaration of the beginning of the end of the war. Yoongi vowed to the 5 rings on his hand, that he would kill the King and Queen with his own two hands; he would let their royal blood run over the rings of his dear friends- who died in the fight opposing those of royal blood- so that they could finally rest in peace, knowing that the Rebellion had succeeded. That their deaths weren't for nothing. Yoongi vowed to never let their deaths be in vain. 

*****

_"And I'll survive!" _

He whirled and swung his sword in a devasting arc, cleanly slicing the guard's head off his shoulders. He twisted out of the way and stabbed the other guard in the stomach, before pulling his smaller sword out of its sheath on his lower back and lunging forward to stick it in between the armour plates of the knight, knowing that he would not be wearing chainmail as it would restrict the movement of this particular armour. 

As the men dropped dead around him, he pulled out his gun and shot 2 more guards as they tried to ambush Namjoon from the back. 

He was a whirlwind of death and destruction barrelling straight to where Im Jaebum was helping an injured Park Jinyoung to fend off another wave of guards and a knight. Hyunwoo, in all of his years of training to be a royal guard- since he was young enough to throw a stone, basically- and in all of his years being a guard before joining the Rebellion, had never seen anything like it. 

_ "paranoid" _

Yoongi constantly looked behind him and kept his back to the walls as much as possible, while also advancing as quickly as possible to the main rooms in the last castle still standing in the entire kingdom: the castle where the last of the royalty had made the mistake of returning to for a supply run. 

Every sound made him hold his sword more securely in his hand, every step he took was quiet and calculated, and after every step he paused for a few seconds, listening for any footsteps behind him. Jinyoung and Kim Yugyeom- Jungkook's best friend and replacement General for him- had both been ambushed from behind, and consequently had been severely injured. Namjoon had almost met their same fate- if not worse- earlier but was saved thanks to Yoongi. The last thing they needed was for Yoongi himself- the one who was saving his friends- to get injured or worse. 

Paranoia was his best friend in this particular war, deep within their enemy territory where multiple ambushes had already occurred.

His scream of rage when they found the castle empty of the royals was enough to shatter the lightbulbs and rattle the windows. Namjoon rushed everyone out to safely allow Yoongi to release his anger- anger at letting them slip through his fingers- without hurting any of his friends or team. 

*****

_"I have lost the will to change" _

Yoongi looked at the biggest beacon he'd ever lit. The main castle of the royals, now burning bright and powerful, illuminating the night with hope. Distant cheers erupted from the masses of people blending into the night with their black clothes. It was not the only beacon lit, however. Government buildings; office parks belonging to the nobility; the buildings of the multimillionaire businessmen and women who ill-treated their workers; the shops themselves- all were being set ablaze, one by one. 

And as Yoongi stood at the top of the broadcasting tower in the midst of all this destruction, he finally understood what Seokjin had meant in the beginning, about there being too much unnecessary violence and destruction. The owners of the buildings were all dead, there was no need to destroy the buildings when they could have been repurposed to suit the People's needs. Bt it was too late, and it would be a waste to extinguish the blazes now. 

And while standing there alone; while holding onto the base of the antenna and letting the wind blow the smoke into his face and carry the screams of victory over the crackling of the fires to his ears; Yoongi found that he didn't want to change. He didn't want to be peaceful like Seokjin; he didn't want to be analytical like Namjoon; he didn't want to be soft and gentle and playful like Jimin and Hyunwoo; like Jackson Wang- Mark's beau- and Hyungwon; like Jungkook and Taehyung and Minhyuk. 

Yoongi was neither of those. Yoongi was angry and so, so hurt. Yoongi was death and destruction; Yoongi was the fire that set their world ablaze. 

He breathed in deeply, took the smoke and heat into his lungs, and when he exhaled, he smiled a slow, sinister smile. He still had unfinished business with the last royals, and he was going to finish it if it was the last thing he did. 

*****

_"And I am not proud!" _

He shouted, swinging his sword at the King- who dodged. See, the king had been too proud of his position, and in his pride, he became complacent; ignoring the needs of his people over the wants of those who placed him on a pedestal and fed his ego. 

_ "cold-blooded!" _

He continued shouting, turning and swinging his sword at the princess- the older sister of the crown prince. She fell to the floor clutching her neck from which blood spurted out of. The Queen screamed. 

Yoongi had killed many innocent people, yes. That much was true. But the king and his men had killed far more innocent people than the Rebellion combined ever will. 

The king and his laws and the guards whom he sent to enforce his laws, they were the ruthless, cold-blooded killers that always came down harder on the poorer and disadvantaged people who had no money to bribe the guards like how the rich noble kids would do. They had lighter sentences too- if they even went to court that is. 

Most of the times, they simply paid a bribe and went off scot-free; for the poorest of the poor, they were often jailed immediately and never released, many of them dying in the jails under "mysterious circumstances". But their bodies were broken and mangled, and everyone knew they'd been beaten and tortured to death. Hyunwoo confirmed it, that they were practice for the guards, and that anyone heard talking about it was put on a list and guards sent out to collect them. Often, many of the guards planted drugs or weapons on them, which they reported to the king, who in turn made stricter laws and ordered them to be enforced. And so the vicious cycle continued.

_ "fake!" _

Yoongi screamed as he ripped off the vain queen's wig and stabbed her in her chest; his sword just barely went past the corset, so he aimed for her neck instead. She met the same fate her daughter did, throat becoming a spurting fountain of her blood.

_"I will shut the world away" _

Namjoon was shouting, Jaebum was yelling. Swords clanged loudly in the long hallway leading to the room of the safehouse, followed by gunshots, and more screaming. Yoongi ignored all of them, he shut out the rest of the world, just as he declared, as he faced down the broken king.

*****

_"Open your eyes!" _

He commanded as he harshly grabbed the king's neck, dragged him out the balcony and forced him to kneel on the balcony- facing his now ex-citizens. They booed and hurled insults at him, demanding his execution. Namjoon and Jaebum and Hyunwoo brought in the bodies of the slain queen, the crown prince and the princess respectively, for the sole purpose of letting the crowd- and the king- see for themselves. 

Their bodies were dumped on the sides of the balcony unceremoniously, still bleeding sluggishly- with the exception of the crown prince's body, which was pale and starting to swell. 

Yoongi had already dipped his rings in the crown prince's blood before he'd set that base on fire, as soon as Mark's and Changkyun's battalions had arrived to assist Namjoon and Jaebum, the two of them had barged in and knocked the king unconscious before tying him up and taking him away. 

Yoongi had been free to let the still-gushing blood of the queen and the princess flow over his rings. He thought he heard several soft sighs in his ears as he did so, but dismissed them as projections of his own mind imagining his friends ease at the fulfilment of his vow to avenge them. His hands were still bloodstained, and the blood had dried and caked around his rings and fingernails. He didn't care. 

He used his other hand to grip the king's hair and harshly pull his head back, baring his neck to the crowd. Namjoon had snipped his polo neck open beforehand. 

Yoongi's left hand held the king's own ceremonial dagger, the one which was given to all the kings upon the start of their time as the king, and was passed down from generation to generation. The irony was not lost on the crowd. How fitting it is, that the king is killed by his own dagger, the one he merely boasted about instead of using it as a reminder to serve the very thing it symbolised: his people.

Yoongi took his time, dragging it out as long as possible. The hot blood spurted over the balcony and onto the crowd beneath it- hopefully not dripping onto anyone's face. It flowed over Yoongi's hand, and the dagger, and- most importantly- the rings. 

He lifted up the dagger for all to see, dripping with the king's blood. Hyunwoo held out the cushion which it was customarily placed on for Yoongi to place it on. 

He then took out his small sword. Namjoon's hands replaced Yoongi's on the king's hair, and Jaebum crouched to hold his body upright. 

Yoongi swung-

The crowd cheered as the king's head was held up by Namjoon, who was the tallest of them all on the balcony. It remained there, along with the heads of the rest of the family, mounted onto spears taken from the now-nonexistent royal guard. The people celebrated. 

*****

_"I will not bow" _

Yoongi turned to face the crowd of people. He bowed down low, low, low. So low that he knelt on his knees and let his forehead touch the cold, bloodstained floor. On both of his sides; all of his fellow Generals and the highly-skilled, highly respected and highly influential individuals from within both the Rebellion and the People themselves, did the same. Bowing to the People were the new nation's first-ever democratically elected council of people; the first government this nation had ever had. They had ceased being a kingdom ever since their king and crown prince- the last remnants of the suffocating monarchy- ha been killed, now they were a nation with multiple people all sharing the power and resources and all vowing to help the ones who were actually important: the People of the Nation. 

Yoongi would never bow to any single king or ruler, but he was the first one to bow to the citizens he'd sworn to serve, the ones he'd killed for, was tortured for; the ones he went to war for. Yoongi was not a people person, but these people were his people, and so he would serve them to the best of his ability, preferable alongside his friends and comrades.

*****

_"I will not break" _

Years had gone by since the war had ended, and yet Yoongi still awoke screaming and gasping for air. The nightmares never stopped, and short of drugging himself to sleep, he never got much rest. It had now reached the point where he was unable to concentrate. He clutched at the familiar weight of his rings, which he now wore on a chain around his neck. His eyes burned, and for the first time, he allowed himself to cry, to actually cry- not just letting his eyes water, like during the torture- and it was like opening a floodgate. 

Yoongi sobbed and let the tears run down his nose and soak into the duvet on his lap. He promised himself he wouldn't break, but he was far too exhausted to continue holding on. 

Namjoon had once told him that letting yourself break every now and then allowed you more room to grow, kinda like how a crab let its old skin break and slithered out of it so it could grow a newer, bigger skin. Maybe Yoongi just needed to break to let his heart heal and grow again. 

*****

_"I will shut the world away" _

Yoongi isolated himself. He stepped down from his post and let someone else take over the mantle. Lee Jooheon, his name was. He had dimples as cute as Namjoon's, and a physique like Jimin's. He was playful like Jungkook and loved rapping as much as Taehyung had. He loved jokes and peace as much as Seokjin. Yoongi knew Jooheon would fit right in, and would also take good care of his position. He also knew he needed to leave before he started falling for Jooheon. That would be disastrous for him, seeing that Kunpimook Bhuwakul- known as BamBam by everyone- already had his eye on the dimpled boy. And from the way Jooheon smiled around Bambam, it was obvious that he liked him back. Yoongi didn't want to get any more hurt than he already was.

So he packed his backpack and left for the mountains, hiking on all the trails Jungkook had wanted to hike on.

He collected all the pretty leaves and flowers he thought Taehyung would like and pressed them in his journal. He collected rocks too, for both Taehyung and Jimin. He skipped the flat ones at every lake and pond he found, thinking of how Taehyung used to do it too.

He carved small pieces of wood into tiny pendants and beads which he strung to make into the necklace he'd promised Jimin he would.

He napped in every warm sunny spot he could find, and he even slept under the stars one night, in a grassy clearing large enough to give him a full view of the sky so he could stargaze like Hyungwon liked to.

He sang at the top of his voice, not caring how he sounded, he and imagined Minhyuk cackling at his atrocious singing but cheering him on anyways. 

Slowly but surely, the further Yoongi walked, the more his heart began to heal. 

And then he met Jung Hoseok. 

_"I will not fall" _

Yoongi told himself repeatedly that he would not fall for Hoseok, but it was difficult when the man himself was the personification of life and joy and sunshine.

He had Jimin and Jungkook's love of dance, a smile to rival the sun and dimples to rival Namjoon and Jooheon's. He laughed without a care in the world and make corny jokes like Taehyung and Seokjin, and didn't find Yoongi's naturally grumpy disposition off-putting.

He liked to sing aloud regardless of his talent- although he was gifted at both singing and rapping, much to Yoongi's delight, and he even joined Yoongi's sunny naps and stargazing nights. 

Yoongi knew he had already fallen from the first time he'd stumbled upon the guy in the middle of the trail, shaking a stick and yelling at the spider that had crawled on his backpack and refused to move.

*****

_"I will not fade" _

Yoongi felt like he was fading. His nightmares came back full force. Hoseok had gone off on one of the hunting trails a week ago, and Yoongi had never felt the same after he left.

Hoseok was primarily a hunter living in the smaller towns closer to the forest. He had been one of the many anonymous tip-offs of the secret guard training camps that the royalty and nobility had set up to try and stop the Rebellion. His tip-off had been the ones about the three camps that Park Jinyoung, Im Changkyun and Hyunwoo- acting in place of Hyungwon- had raided and destroyed. Yoongi was forever grateful about the tip-off, and Hoseok was forever grateful about the toppling of the corrupt monarchy.

Yoongi liked the fact that Hoseok never treated him like an infallible hero, or like a celebrity, or like someone famous, as all the others did. He simply treated him like a normal hiker that a friendly hunter would cross paths within the forest. 

Only more gently. Far more gently than Yoongi's been treating himself. Far more gently than Yoongi's been treating some of his friends even. It made him equal parts sad, happy and infatuated. 

Sad, because it made him realise that he needed to be more gentle with his friends. Happy, because he found it impossible to be anything but happy whenever Hoseok smiled at him- which was basically all the time. Infatuated, because well, Yoongi had never imagined that anyone would ever want him romantically- not until Jimin had shown up in his life at least. And now, here was Hoseok, glowing from the inside and filling Yoongi's broken heart with hope. 

It got to the point where his nightmares started becoming less and less violent and painful. Started waking him up screaming and in a cold sweat less and less. It started hurting less to think of the others. He even managed to put his rings back on his left hand; to run his fingers over the grooves in each ring; to have a constant reminder of the friends he lost on his hand where he'd see it every day. 

He had originally taken the rings off a few weeks after being sworn into his position, when his nightmares had worsened and it began to hurt to think of them every time he used his hands. 

But now that Hoseok had left, Yoongi seemed to regress back to that time. He didn't know why, but perhaps it had to do with how having Hoseok nearby seemed to make waking up from his nightmares less daunting; how having another person there to rub his back hold him while he cried made him feel less alone. Sure, Namjoon and Hyunwoo and Jaebum all had nightmares, anyone who'd been part of the war had them. But Yoongi was the one who'd watched all of his friends die; he was the only one who'd survived being tortured- twice- when it should have been Taehyung or Hyungwon instead. He was the one who should have died instead of any of them. And even though Namjoon had told him not to think like this, he couldn't help it. Hoseok was the one who made his thoughts go quiet. Hoseok- with his presence alone- could dull the ache of guilt in his heart. 

And now he was not here, leaving Yoongi alone with his thoughts and this crushing guilt in his heart. 

Yoongi vowed to himself to not let those thoughts consume him, not until Hoseok came back. He would not fade. Not if he wanted to have a chance to court Hoseok. He hadn't courted Jimin, circumstance and time hadn't allowed for it. But now, Yoongi wanted to court Hoseok, in his eyes, the sweet hunter deserved to be courted, and more. 

*****

_"I will take your breath away" _

This time, Yoongi was the one whispering. Hoseok had accepted his courting efforts and had even courted him back. Yoongi had never smiled more in his life before, not even in the short time that Jimin was in his life. Hoseok, in turn, had given Yoongi another ring for his right hand and wore one on his own to match. 

Yoongi, camped in Hoseok's large tent on the top of the mountain they'd hiked that day, felt his heart swell. Hoseok's nimble fingers roamed over Yoongi's scars, almost reverent with how gentle he was. Hoseok's love was like the sea: deep; with strong undercurrents that pulled you further into him; and he expressed it like waves crashing on the shore, leaving Yoongi breathless and in awe.

Yoongi lost himself in Hoseok again and again, like a boat lost at sea. And yet, Yoongi always found himself in Hoseok again, like the lighthouse that guided the boat to shore. Hoseok was both the sea on which Yoongi's heart sailed; and the lighthouse which guided him back to himself whenever he felt lost. 

*****

_"And I'll survive;" _

Yoongi moved to the village to help Hoseok take care of his sick grandmother, the only family he had left. When she died, Hoseok moved to the city with Yoongi. Yoongi still helped the Council with whatever he could, but this time with Hoseok by his side. He and Hoseok eventually applied to work under Jooheon, who accepted them both. 

Yoongi did not thrive. But he didn't fade away either. And somewhere in that middle ground, Yoongi found that he didn't mind just simply surviving. After everything he'd been through, he was merely surprised he still had the strength to survive. So he decided to do just that. 

_"paranoid" _

The paranoia had never left him, not really. Hoseok was a great fighter. His years of hunting, combined with his enhanced speed and the agility that could only come from dancing made him a formidable opponent during the short period of civil unrest between their nation's border villages and their neighbouring kingdoms border villages. Hoseok usually was the one who resolved these unrests, leaving Yoongi a paranoid mess. Namjoon knew Yoongi's paranoia about Hoseok's safety would only hinder him, so Yoongi was always sent on simultaneous border patrols on the other side of the Nation's borders- both to safely occupy him and to prevent more unrests from sparking, which would mean less danger for Hoseok or the villagers to be in. Yoongi always came back from these patrols calmer. 

*****

_"I have lost the will to change" _

Yoongi thought that he'd become more and more like peace-loving Seokjin as his relationship progressed, but he still found himself to be the angry, destructive and sometimes violent person he was before and during the Rebellion's war. The only difference was how he managed all these qualities. He blew off steam in better, less violent and less destructive ways now: sure, Hyunwoo had to keep replacing the punchbags in the training centre; sure Hoseok often got suggestive looks whenever he sported dark hickeys and seemed more tired and sore than usual; sure the villagers near the mountains often reported hearing angry screaming- sounding suspiciously like Yoongi- alongside tree branches falling noisily; but Yoongi had made so much progress in such a short time that no one really minded. 

Yoongi fixed every single punchbag he'd torn through and donated them to the local orphanages for the young aspiring boxers to train with; Yoongi often received the same treatment that he gave Hoseok- and thus also received the suggestive looks; the villagers always found heaps of chopped up firewood at the beginning of the treeline as an apology for the disturbance of the peace.

*****

_"And I am not proud, cold-blooded fake" _

Yoongi and the rest of the council held themselves to a strict moral code that they themselves enforced upon each other. Yoongi and the others would make sure that they never became as corrupt and heartless and deceiving as the monarchy had been. And the citizens were also encouraged to uphold themselves to a similar standard as well. They vowed that their Nation would never again have another war like the Rebellion's war. They never did.

*****

_"I will shut the world away" _

Yoongi eventually grew bored and began to have a yearning to isolate himself again. Of course, he didn't want to leave Hoseok or his friends, so he resigned from his job once again and used his free time to write. Words flowed out of his heart and mind, until he finally sat back and admired his work.

His stories were celebrated throughout the nation, and even went across the borders into various other kingdoms- all of them monarchies with situations similar to their own prior to their Rebellion. 

*****

_"Fall!" _

Yoongi was not aware of the true extent of the effects his stories had made across their borders. He simply isolated himself and continued writing. But the news trickled into their nation from the borders and worldwide radio stations. 

All around them, new Rebellions had been growing, sparked by Yoongi's words. And all around them, the corrupt monarchies began to fall, one by one. Multi-panelled Councils- chosen by the people- began to be formed. Each newly formed Nation found allies in each other, and each one looked to theirs for support. 

When it was time to change their Council, each of the old Council members followed in their former General's stead by taking up their pen and beginning to write. 

***** 

And soon, the world they fought to create began to prosper. 

**Author's Note:**

> Does anyone remember these? They used to be all over Fanfiction.net when I first started reading fics, and when I migrated to Wattpad there were still a few, but now they seem to have all disappeared (sadly). As someone who LOVES listening to music, this is a tragedy that would Romeo and Juliet to shame (sorry Shakespeare). Like... can we please bring these fics back?
> 
> Whenever I listen to music, I always daydream and whip up stories, kick-ass music videos and character interactions/scenes for stories. And since I don't have the money to make those kick-ass music videos, the next best thing is to write out those stories and to use the lyrics as inspiration, or to enhance the story, or as the character dialogue. And so, I finally did it! What do you think? 
> 
> [tl;dr: I was remembering the song fics I used to love to read and began craving to read one which I just couldn't find and so I decided to just create one in hopes that I could maybe spark someone else into also creating one so I'd have some stuff to read. Also coz I had the idea to write some song fics in my head so I finally just did it. But mostly to inspire *cough trick cough* people into writing some od these for me. Let me know if it works ;) ]


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